✉️ Email

Back in 2022, I wrote about the changing efficacy of email metrics. The advice I gave was that instead of relying on clicks and opens, we should instead focus on the following:

Keep Unsubscribes Low: Instead of aiming for >30% opens, optimize for <0.5% unsubscribes.

 
Track CTA Completions: Instead of aiming for >7% clicks, optimize for the number of results generated from the CTA (form fills, cart adds, enquiries, etc.).

Looking back now in Q1 2024, the advice is the same. What has changed is that clicks have become an even less reliable engagement indicator, and that is due to one big reason: bot subscribers. 

You may have noticed a large influx of subscribers at certain points over the past year or so. Or, a general drop in your already sketchy engagement metrics. So, how can you tell if you have a bots problem? What can you do about it?

"We have found the timing of click traffic to be a clear indicator of whether a click originated from a human or a bot. Many bot providers will scan emails and generate clicks on all of the links within a split second."

Does this sound like something you're dealing with? If so, hit reply to this email, and next edition I'll share some automations and strategies I've come up with that have helped mitigate it. 

🌱 Inspiration

We're drawn to watch those who perform at a high level.

Whether athletes, business people or intellectuals, there seems to us that there is something pure in the way these people act.

Watching a great sportsperson, as an example, is almost like watching the platonic form of that activity. We get a glimpse at a perfect explanation of what that thing really is at its core - the perfect game of tennis.

Sport is an easy example because it is so immediate. But what about other fields?

This inspiring video of Andrew Wiles describing his 7-year journey to solve Fermat's Last Theorem is like this, but for the creative process. The pure joy he has when describing the moment of his discovery is very powerful. He is close to tears.

While most of us can't relate to projects as lofty as this, many of us can relate to deep engagement with some sort of creative problem. We can relate to that unnamable moment of perfect insight that he describes. It's an incredible experience, whatever small taste we've had of it.

This is that platonic example. The world-cup performance of creativity.

He mentions how "...out of the ashes seemed to rise the true answer to the problem". Another great description: there is something about that feeling of being lost, yet still moving forward and somehow finding the answer. Zig-zagging toward the solution, only being able to connect the dots looking backwards.

Some things that are felt as serious setbacks, are actually leading us in the right direction all along.

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” — W.H Murray